The Dress
by OllyTheBrave
Summary: In which the tale of The Shirt is continued, and Bubblegum and Marceline face what's next.
1. Chapter 1

"Princess!"

There was a soft rap of tiny candy knuckles at her door. Bonnibel's closed eyes tightened, her head giving a small shake. _No. Not right now. _

A shudder ran up her spine like a firework. It burst in her stomach, and she almost forgot about the urgent knock, teeth coming down to snag her lip. The skin there was getting sore from that, but sometimes staying quiet was hard.

She settled herself back in slowly; her hair pressed between her head and pillows. Her legs spread a little more, hips curving up to meet the mouth so intently working there.

Long and soft hair slid about her thighs, a pair of smooth palms with calloused fingers caressing up her skin to splay on her ribs in response—

"Princess!?"

Bubblegum's brow furrowed, and her hands grabbed Marceline's. _I know, sorry. Hang on._

"_Yes—_?" Good Gourds, that was too breathy. She swallowed thickly, lips pursing at the soft chuckle in Marceline's throat. Her hips jerked at the vibration of it, the tongue inside her giving a hard flick—

"Yes?" she called, clamping her thighs against the Queen's pointed ears. Nails dug into her skin, and Bubblegum's hands were digging under the blankets to find her. "What is it?"

"You're needed downstairs, your highness! Please!"

Marceline's hands sprang down on Bonnibel's hips, pinning them to the mattress. And Bonnibel barely had time to clamp her own hands over her mouth, eyes welding shut as the tongue twisted in deeper and thickened. _You're not going anywhere, Bonnie._

"I'm coming!" the princess strained in a fierce blush, fighting the urge to kick Marceline as the vampire chuckled again. _Oh ha ha. _

Tiny footsteps pattered back downstairs, and before she could even squeak, Bubblegum was dragged down under the blankets, Marceline's pretty face nuzzling at hers affectionately.

"You were so close, just let me finish," she murmured, nipping her ear. Bonnibel pressed at the girl till they could meet eyes, ignoring how adorable she _knew_ the vampire was making herself look. Messy sex hair and some coy smile with that lovey gaze. Like crushed crimson and clear night skies—_focus_.

"Marceline, we talked about this. I can get busy, even at night…what, how was that one dirty—oh, _get busy_," she stopped to chuckle with the amused Queen, but inhaled sharply at the mouth suddenly around her nipple.

"I'll make it fast," the vampire murmured against her breast, shifting so that her fingers were rubbing down against Bonnibel's aching need.

"No, _I'll _make it fast and be right back," the princess grumbled, though her head lolled back easily enough to give Marceline access to her neck. "You think I'm still turned on after talking to Pepper_mint!"_

The last part had been a gasp, because the Marceline had effortlessly slid a finger in.

"Mm-hm," the queen responded, now against her lips. "You're still wet."

Bonnibel quivered, and her hips rolled once, relishing the way the motion brushed the older girl's digit where she needed it most inside.

She felt Marceline's smile became more wicked than cute, and her thumb slid a circle on that outer spot, making the princess's hips jump. "You're still hard here—" she paused, once again dipping her head to suck at peaks of her pink chest, "and here and here—"

"Get off," Bonnibel ordered, neither word breathy or gentle. She felt the vampire pause, and she knew Marceline's jaw was tightening.

Her grey hands disappeared, and just like that she rolled over with her back to the rosy girl. Bubblegum sat up with a tug of guilt, the sheets slipping down to her hips.

It was the fourth time this week alone that their intimacy had been pulverized by turn-offs. And up until now, Marceline had actually been pretty good about it.

"I'm sorry," Bubblegum sighed, leaning over to kiss her shoulder and lacing that sinewy stomach with a one armed hug. "I promise I'll be right back."

"I know," Marceline muttered, hand squeezing her arm briefly. "Sorry for keeping you."

Somewhat satisfied, Bonnibel clambered out of her bed. Her room much colder without anything on her bare skin and she quickly dressed as appropriately as she could.

"Hey!" she called softly, and Marceline peered over her shoulder.

"I'll make it up to you when I get back," she winked, tying her rosy hair back into a loose ponytail.

The vampire smiled, rolling over on her belly and closing her eyes. "Not if I fall asleep first."

"You'd only be missing out," Bubblegum purred, taking care to roll her hips as she walked out. The vampire groaned in frustration before she had closed the door, and the princess smirked.

She slid down the banister, dropping at the second flight of stairs to move in proper prose.

Ever since the two had gotten back together, it had been harder than originally to keep it under wraps.

The marks Marceline left were easy to hide now that they had established 'zones.' She had always brought red sweets up into her room, so that was nothing new or strange. And no one ever thought to guard her window, her room being atop a tower and all.

The occasional noise slip (her headboard hitting the wall, Marceline tackling her onto the floor from where she had been crouching on the ceiling, Bubblegum getting too carried away and yelling things in German) was easily excused by a 'return' of Bonnibel's 'night terrors.'

But sometimes it was hard to contain how _happy_ she was.

It wasn't that the Princess wasn't always in a more chipper mood than most. It was that she was now almost manically gleeful about everything.

She would sweep about even the most grueling of royal tasks with a childlike flare of carefree. Sometimes she even _giggled_.

Who knew a dead girl could make her feel so alive?

Even now, descending down just to see Lemongrab, she didn't have a reason to frown. And this is Lemongrab she's looking at.

Or was it the second?

Oh, who cares?

"Hello, Earl of Lemongrab," she beamed, but slowed, her grin fading. Peppermint was crying? Cinnabun was trying to pull open the door (it was more of a 'push' hinge), and Starchy looked like _someone_ had just decreed ten years of dungeon on his head.

"What can I help you with?" she asked, and for a moment she wondered if calling Marceline down wasn't something of an option—

"You! You can't be dressed like that! Not now! UNACCEPTABLE!" Earl shrieked, piercing Bonnibel's ears and murdering her buzz.

She could imagine Marceline perking up much like a rabid dog might, and she quickly held up her hands.

"Earl! Please calm down. Let's discuss why I'm…not dressed acceptably. At midnight. When I should be asleep." She paused, brow furrowing. "Why are you here again?"

The lemon flinched, his eyes widening till they looked as if they were about to pop. "I can't do the thing while you're looking like that!"

"What thing, Earl?" Bubblegum strained through her teeth, trying not to make fists with her hands. Thank Gob Lemongrab had never been the one to directly interrupt her and Mar's love makin,' because she was pretty sure he had the potential to permanently cripple a mood.

And being the sexy vampire lady Marceline was, that would be some serious damage.

"The thing!" he shouted, pulling out a ring. She stared at it.

She stared at his polished attire, at Cinnabun trying to yank open her swing out door, Peppermint lying in a pool of his own tears.

"Whoa whoa whoa, you mean proposal?" Bubblegum burst, horrified.

"WE! ARE! BETROTHED!" Earl bellowed. "BETROTHED!"


	2. Chapter 2

"How can this even be conceivably possible?" Bonnibel snarled, her thumb and index finger digging into the tear ducts of her synched shut eyes.

Somehow, they had managed to convince Lemongrab that coming back in three days would give them enough time to make things 'acceptable.'

Now, she was up to her waist in legal books, pink hair fallen loose across her face. Ever loyal, Peppermint Butler was right at her side. Well, her knee really. His face was barely making it out of those papers. He had fallen into some sort of eerie calm, which was good, because it meant it was her turn to go nuts out cray cray.

"Both Lemongrabs realized at the same time that you, being eighteen, were of proper age to be made Queen by Candy Law Marriage. Meaning only one could be King of a realm they've always wanted for their own. And Candy Law dictates that should suitors meet and compete, the winner may claim the Princess's hand, should they have a kingdom that complements our own," he said, summarizing what the two had dug through volumes in hopes of _not _finding.

"I don't even know which Lemongrab killed which," Bubblegum groaned, pulling at her face skin.

"It's alright, Princess. The rules say nothing against killing your suitor."

Bonnibel let her legs give up, slouching down onto her books. "Oh Peppermint. As much as I usually enjoy your darker sense of humor, I just don't have it in me right now to smile."

"I'm not jesting," Peppermint smiled. "We can kill him. We'll shave him of his yellow flesh, and wait for you to fall in love. Then, whoever it is can wear the skin suit and claim your hand in marriage."

Bubblegum stared, rubbing her mouth slowly. Yeah, _no_, it was still his turn.

"You hang on to that one…I need to uh…change my underwear." She got up, keeping her eyes on those empty white sockets of his until she had backed out of the room entirely.

She booked it upstairs, her heart tearing in two. It was now nearing three o' clock a.m., and Marceline must've heard _everything_.

Was she blistering mad? Had she already left?

Or _worse_: was she just sitting there, eyes dark, face on the verge of collapsing into tears.

Candy Law was Candy Law, no matter how old fashioned or outdated. And Bonnibel hadn't been granted the birth right of her kingdom for just any old reason.

By no means was she accepting. That was entirely different.

It was just for _once_, her brain couldn't think of a single thing to do. And that terrified her more than Peppermint's loose morals.

She froze at her door, her hand trembling at the knob.

She had been…_they_had been…so happy.

The door opened up a bar of light into her room. It slipped up and over her bed, and her heart almost skipped three beats.

Marceline lay fast asleep on her side, her hair tumbled across the pillows.

She only really floated when she was napping or in a light sleep. The second she hit NREM, however, her body would thump down and stay down. And when Marceline was out, she was _out_. Despite her pointed ears, the girl could probably sleep through another Mushroom War.

And Bonnibel felt her lips quiver into a smile. She closed the door, taking care to lock it and slipping out of her flats. Her jeans dropped, her hair freed, her hoodie unzipped.

Just as naked as her beloved vampire, she slipped back into the bed. She pulled the covers up to both of their shoulders, laying her head down inches from Marceline's. She drew a grey arm over her side, eyes searching the queen's still expression.

Her lashes were pressed down to her cheekbones, eyebrows and lips relaxed. The curve of her nose, the slender arc of her jaw…when Marceline was awake, she definitely looked the young girl she had been stamped into eternity as.

But when she was asleep like this, she looked as elegant and womanly as a true queen would.

Where they rested limply at her waist, Marceline's fingers twitched. Unconsciously, the vampire shifted, pulling Bonnibel against her in a tight hug. Her head snuggled down into the crook of the princess's neck and chest, body seeking her warmth.

And Bubblegum held her back just as firmly, her chin resting atop the dark hair her pink fingers laced into. Her eyes closed and she deeply inhaled the older girl's scent. Inhaled how dark the room still was, how private their pocket of space was in the den of her bed.

The push and pull of air against her skin where Marceline breathed, her full breasts pressing into the princess's stomach with every inhale. How cool and soft her ashen skin was, how she had searched for her even in her slumber.

Tomorrow, she would have to tell this girl that she was in an anciently arranged marriage to perhaps the most obnoxious thing to ever waste air. And that she didn't exactly know how to cheat the system.

If all demon dogs had nearly broken loose over Finn breaking a promise, well…it was safe to say the imminent destruction of her land and people would be devastating should their own ruler break a dozen laws at once.

Her head throbbed, signaling she needed sleep or at least to stop overthinking.

So she buried her face down, neck craning so her lips could find Marceline's ear.

"Don't be mad," she breathed. "I know I can be tough on you. And I know it's a big thing to ask. But please just stay. Please don't freak out and don't give me a chance to explain. Please just give me some time."

As if they were keys fitting into a lock, something broke open inside. A great swell of panic was beginning to compress her ribs. Her heart was pounding too hard, her limbs suddenly aching with too much energy.

And Bubblegum needed her awake.

She tilted the queen's head back and pressed her mouth to hers, kissing her slowly at first. But the need for distraction and comfort and all the things that only Marceline could give her was burning like a tiny flame. It needed more if it was going to grow up and burn away every last bit of fear.

Her lips moved again and again until she felt the older girl kiss back.

It was solid and slow and searing greeting that made the princess's heart fling way back to the first time they had lip locked. Her eyes peered out to find the vampire's gaze opening inches away as well, sleepy and ethereal.

"_Bonnibel_," the Marceline hissed in pleased surprise, and the princess's skin flushed at her sultry voice.

And now she was just frantic. Her body clambered on top of Marceline's, tasting her dream rich mouth, fingers griping her black hair at the roots.

The vampire's fangs dug down into her lower lip, and just as natural as a wave crashing down on shore, Marceline's hand slipped down and between them, her body rising up to press against hers.

She entered her wordlessly, and Bubblegum's head fell back, neck mercy to teeth and lips and tongue. Her arms gripped around the vampire's shoulders, her body moving in time to the fingers rocking her far, far away.

And _God,_ she was so glad that Marceline shot first and questioned later. She was well aware that, despite her earlier promise, this was now coming across as something else entirely.

But it was just that easy for them to fall together. To clash and mix and move and breathe.

She could raise the queen from a rest usually granted for dead ones, and Marceline could exhaust her down into it.

"I love you so, so much," Bubblegum whimpered, and her spine was arching, her body tightening down on the painful bliss.

She could've asked her what was wrong. Or maybe say that she loved her back. But the vampire wrapped her free hand around Bonnibel's shoulder instead, pulling her down against the thrusts.

And the princess was nearly buckling, her own hands cupping Marceline's jaw, the sides of her neck, squeezing her chest in abandon.

All too quickly, Marceline's teeth dug into her shoulder. Like a sleeper wave, it struck her out from nowhere. Her thoughts evaporated like buildings under the tidal flash of an atomic bomb.

She locked down and gave a harsh cry, the vampire's mouth immediately closing over hers to swallow the sound.

Her arms slide around Bubblegum, catching her as she comes down, and now the princess was on her back, the Marceline lacing an arm to her side so that she could lean over her.

"I love you, too," she murmured, brow furrowing. "You alright?"

Still panting, Bonnibel pushed her lips up into a smile. Her hand splayed where Marceline's heart was thumping, finger tips curling into the grey skin.

"We're not done yet. I still have to make it up to you."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating, because every chapter there's some new way these two are getting freaky. Then I remember I'm writing about Bubbline, and I laugh, "There's no so thing as too much." Also, anybody else notice the cameo Bubblegum makes in 'Hug Wolf?' She's chasing a bluish grey cat. Makes me wonder if Marcy can't change into that too?**

**-O-**

"Like…like this?"

"_Oh baby, don't stop._"

Bonnibel feverishly curled her fingers in Marceline's tight wet warmth, feeling the smooth grey skin beneath her move. The vampire languidly twisted and stretched against her, kissing every bit of pink skin she could find with an open mouth.

Every now and then, Marceline would become submissive without a battle, taking all the princess gave her in a serene longing.

And as much as Bubblegum loved this rare side of her more than often headstrong girl, the vampire had only been like this _twice_ in the past six months since they had picked up where they left off.

One time had been when Science had come down with a horrible case of rodent fever. The other had been when Bonnibel had accidentally seen Ice King with his gown off. Both times, Bubblegum had insisted she was fine only to finally crack hours later.

It was otherwise known as '_Marceline Intervenes PB's Mad Denial_.' Or MIPBMD (pronounced '_mip-bomb'_, I.E: "For the love of Billy, Marcy, _MIPBMD?_ Really?")

If Marceline couldn't get the truth out of her by asking, it was by being so gentle and tender in bed that it drew out all sorts of vulnerable emotions.

And even though the princess was well aware that MIPBMD was a double bladed sword something in their relationship, it never occurred that it was happening until it started working.

She gazed down at Marceline, the girl's half lidded eyes locked with hers, her lips parted. Her grey arms now moved back to grab the pillow's corners, their chests brushing with every move.

Bonnibel slid her free hand down the queen's sternum, cupping her face, and she could feel Marceline shudder at the mere act. Her thumb skimmed those full lips, and the queen sucked on it, eyes closing—

"_Gob, you_," Bonnibel groaned, pulling her hand away to kiss her hard. Oh _of course_ she would break _now_ and cry. She could feel her tear slip down like a cool blade between her nose and Marceline's cheek. Spit, did her eyes just do this whenever they felt like it?

_Man, sure is boring being inside of Peeble's ocular sockets. I know! Let's pee and make everything weird and dramatic. _

The vampire grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand from between her thighs, and Bubblegum thumped face down on the mattress besides her.

"Oh, how embarrassing! Look at me, getting all sweaty on you like that," Bonnibel blubbered, and Marceline was on her rosy back, sidling an ashen beneath and around the younger girl before she kissed behind her ear.

"Bonnie, you're freaking me out," the queen whined. "C'mon babe, what happened downstairs?"

"Nothing, I'm just really happy with you."

"You only cry when you're so upset you're going to punch something. Peebles be a lover, not a fighter." Marceline paused, lifting her head from between Bonnibel's shoulder blades. "Do you need me to punch something?"

"You have a different scale for violence," Bubblegum frowned into the sheets. "A punch to me is what mauling is to you."

"Yeah, so you need me to maul someone?" Marceline shrugged, failing to see any sort of problem.

"I wish you could," the princess whispered, rolling over in the vampire's arms.

"What, you think I can't take 'em?" the queen scoffed.

"No, the opposite. You could probably shave their skin off," Bonnibel muttered, trailing off to stare at the wall in deep thought. "And wear their flesh suit."

"Whoa there, somebody's channeling Peppermint," Marceline said, concern washing over her features. "Who's bugging you Bonnie?"

And as she lay there, underneath this girl in what could officially be deemed _their_ bed, Bubblegum realized that she wasn't doing Marceline any favors.

By leaving her in the dark she usually liked so much, Bonnibel was only going to stress her out. And when she found out in three days anyway, all of that pent up anxiety was going to hit head on with rage.

The last time that happened, the vampire had turned into a fire breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex and attempted to kill her fans.

_Okay…easy now. Let's lead her into this as calmly as possible. Let her know that you've got a plan, then figure one out as you go. We're smart. We're clever koalas. We got this._

Bonnibel took a deep breath, bracing herself.

Marceline was waiting, her undivided attention perked down.

"I'm betrothed!" Bubblegum burst, her face crumbling.

"Excuse me?" Marceline sputtered.

"I'm engaged to Lemongrab!"

"LEMONGRAB?" Marceline exploded. "What the—I don't even—WHAT?"

"He and the other Lemongrab dueled to the death, and Candy Law dictates that the suitor who wins in an officially royal duel at the point of my eighteenth year has earned my hand in marriage and Candy Law is serious business, they'll go medieval on everyone's cans!" Bonnibel all but wailed, and Marceline's mouth was nearly foaming.

"_Bunk that_," the Queen roared, shoving up and off the bed to where her clothes lay scattered across the floor. "I'll kill that mother licker right now."

"Marceline, you can't!" Bubblegum said, scrambling after her.

"An officially royal duel, right?" Marceline whirled back, arms spread. "I'm a Queen, yeah? I'll just be another suitor."

"If it were that easy, believe me, I'd let you-!"

"_If_?" Marceline growled, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Only suitors from compatible kingdoms can duel. If you and I were officially wed, we'd have the issue of vampires wanting into Candy land and Candy folk wanting to cork the vampires' fangs-"

"Hold up," Marceline snapped, hands gripping Bonnibel's arms. "How long have you known about this?"

"About Lemongrab? Just tonight, I swear—"

"_No._ How long have you known that you and I can never tie the knot."

Marceline's eyes were dark, her face on the verge of collapsing into tears. And Bubblegum could punch herself. How could she have missed that?

"Marcy, we can talk about that later," she started, her gut sinking fast, but Marceline was yanking her pants on.

"Don't call me that," she growled, stumbling into her boots.

Bubblegum shoved past her and locked her bedroom window. "You're not flying out there; the sun will be rising soon enough."

"I've got two hours," the queen clipped, pulling her bra across her chest.

"Marceline, I get it, you need some time, but I could really use you right now," Bonnibel said forcefully, backing up to press against her window.

Marceline was hot on her toes, yanking a sleeveless striped shirt down her waist. "I'd go downstairs and make everyone ask a _whole_ lot of questions, but I really don't feel like having my fangs corked."

"Why do you have to make this all about you?!" Bubblegum snapped. "You don't think I'm upset? You think I want this?"

"Why am I the only thing you can say _no_ to in your life? Why does your _pathetic fun sized kingdom, ALWAYS come first_?" Marceline hissed, her face in what was supposed to be kissing distance to Bonnibel's. Now it was only alarming, the shadows under her features making her look almost gaunt. "All I ever do is wait. And you were going to keep me waiting forever."

"_I still have you to keep_," the princess bit, her whole body shaking. "Even if you left today, I would hunt you down and make you come back and you know it."

"Yeah?" Marceline almost laughed, and it was the worst kind of noise. Empty and delirious, like a bow fresh out of arrows. "Let's see you try that, your highness."

There was a wicked flash of fangs and claws, and Bonnibel ducked out of the way of an enormous wing unfolding.

"_Marceline Abadeer!_" she screamed at the bat shattering right through her window. "_Marceline if you leave I…it's…_"

Her head crushed down against the knees she drew tightly to her chest, the words dying in her throat.

-O-

"Bonnie?"

Bubblegum blearily stared at the wooden boards she had made sure were nailed up earlier that day. The heavy book in her lap had pressed her legs asleep, and she realized the sun must've gone down already.

Unless she was imaging things again. And part of her honestly wished she was.

"Bonnibel?"

She listened to the girl paw at the barricade weakly, and then turned her eyes back to the words she was no longer reading.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have gotten that mad."

Bubblegum briskly turned a page.

"I shouldn't have opened my wings inside. I really didn't mean to, my wings just opened but…_Gob_, I keep thinking how I could've really hurt you."

Bubblegum clenched her jaw, digging a hand through her hair. _Like you didn't? _She wasn't bruised in the slightest. Just heartbroken.

"I shouldn't have jacked up your window. And I _really_ shouldn't have burned an effigy of you I made out of old shoes and used the ashes to write that you like to pee outside in that woman's rest room."

Bubblegum slammed the book shut, wanting to cover her ears—_wait, what the actual cavities, Marceline? Seriously? I don't even know what to do with that knowledge._

"You know, this is how it ended last time, too," Marceline chuckled darkly. "Me locked outside of your window, you inside wearing our shirt..."

And Bonnibel was. She looked down at it, barely inhaling.

"Last time I made it all about me. I didn't give you the space you needed. And I chased you away when you hunted me down. Thing is, I can't give you space anymore. It…oh man…it hurts too much not being around you nowadays. I brought it on myself; I'm not fooling anyone on that one. But I've never been the brains in this duo—"

"Cheeseballs, Marceline. Are you trying to get sappy enough to drip through the cracks?" Bonnibel called out. She heaved the tome off her thighs, wriggling her toes back to life.

"…I would've gotten the guitar out if that were the case."

She was trying to rub the feeling back into her calves when her ears perked on the ever familiar pluck of an E chord.

"Just kidding, like I don't carry this thing with me _everywhere_."

Bubblegum was halfway there when Marceline's voice floated in.

"_Sorry I'm so crude_

_You know I don't mean to be rude_

_You're just my air, you're just my food_

_Just my heart standing right outside of me—"_

Bonnibel swung open the planks like some sort of haphazard door, and Marceline froze mid strum, face turning red.

She looked like an absolute mess. From her dark hair to her scuffed red boots, it was clear she had spent the day in an exhausting torment.

"Well, if I had known that opened we could've avoided all this," the queen mumbled, shyly tucking her axe behind her.

"C'mere, you," the princess murmured, her arms sticking out.

Marceline drifted into them, her feet thumping down on the carpet to hold Bonnibel completely.

"I'm sorry too," the princess whispered. And she was so happy to be in these arms again, her heart running up her ribs to kick off into back flips over and over. "I never want you to feel like you come last, or that what we have doesn't have a future."

"Aw heck, Bonnie... as long as I have you, I don't care if we have to stay girlfriends till the end," Marceline hummed, burying her face into Bubblegum's hair. "You just cannot let Lemongrab marry you. Not just for my sake, but yours and your whole kingdom, really."

"…You reek of burning shoes," Bonnibel grimaced. "But I don't want to let go of you just yet."

"Geez, we might as well already be married. Smell my _love_," Marceline said, crushing the flailing girl into her.

"Oh spelling errors, now _this _could be a deal breaker. _Bathtub NOW."_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the late chapter guys—I've gotten super into writing my other story (Bad Goods). It also has odd girl love ( post/40003983532/chapter-i-in-which-siren-escapes). This may or may not be an advertisement (I'm an asshole)**

-O-

"Two days after tonight?" Marceline muttered, threading her fingers through Bonnibel's hair.

"Two days after tonight," the princess said, shifting her cheek on the vampire's slick chest.

They were curled inside her tub, limb folded over limb in now lukewarm water.

The Queen exhaled roughly, and Bubblegum knew her well enough to figure her brow was furrowed over closed eyes, head tilting back against the porcelain rim. The thump she heard only verified it.

"Well, there has to be something."

"There _is_. I just need to find it," Bonnibel coaxed, her hand rubbing up and down the vampire's belly, thumbing the notch where her ribs curled in to meet. Much like it might to an alligator, the notion always seemed to entrance Marceline, and this time was no different. The older girl's muscles loosened.

"Then let's get on it," she mumbled, a happy sound escaping her as Bonnibel's fingers drew figure eights around her abdomen.

"_Let's_?" Bubblegum frowned. "I love you and all, but we can't be alone for five minutes without initiating in coitus-"

Marceline's nails were in her scalp, and she realized her hand had gone too low.

"See?" she blundered quietly, hurriedly retracting her touch. Marceline gurgled, her head slipping back into the water under an upwards flume of dark hair.

And then the girl beneath her shrank away, collapsing Bonnibel into the tepid tub. She sputtered, yanking the pink hair from her face. "Marcy!" she scolded, "what are you doing?"

Something scuttled up her belly, and she peered down into a pair of tiny lime green eyes, leathery ears perked up like miniature satellites.

"Guess I'll just have to be hideously adorable instead of devastatingly sexy," the vampire bat said, her piggy nose quivering over a needle fanged snarl Bonnibel realized was a smile. She extended her membranous wings, nuzzling a bristly chin down on the pink stomach her claws were lightly pinching.

"Yes…hideously adorable," Bubblegum repeated tightly. Still, knowing that Marceline just wanted to stay was something of a heart melt. She scooped lil' batceline into her hands with a cooing, "Aw," and kissed the tiny vampire right on her fuzzy forehead.

Marceline, continuing to be the hopeless romantic she was, shook herself dry and splattered the princess's face, making her sputter again.

With naked Marceline no longer a distraction, she set to work, pouring scroll after scroll of marital guidelines for aspiring Candy Queens. The materials had been dumped across her floor, piling up her desk to cascade and flood her closet. It was a miracle they could even _move, _Bonnibel perched atop the island her bed made. To be honest, becoming queen had never even crossed her mind—she was only eighteen, after all- and the sheer amounts of details were beginning to intimidate her.

One day, she was actually going to have to _know_ all this.

"Hey, babe?" Marceline piped up from where she clung to the princess's shoulder. "Why don't we just use the computer?"

"Oh right, and use the keywords, "help, I'm engaged to an autistic lemon?" Bonnibel snorted, adjusting her glasses. "There's nothing you can't glean from a good book."

Being herself, Marceline had flitted off at 'oh right.'

"A computer, geez-wait. A sce—a _scepter_? What in Ooo do I need a scepter for? Mars, do you have a scepter?"

"No way, those things are for stuffed bugs," Marceline droned over the clacking of a keyboard.

"If you're trying to show me 'naughty nudes doing the do' again, I'll have you know my feelings about pornography haven't changed," Bonnibel warned loudly. In reality, she was thanking her lucky stars that she had cleared her history beforehand.

"No, Princess Perv—I just found your solution."

Bubblegum blinked, whirling over her shoulder. "You what?"

"Yeah. I typed in, 'help, _my girlfriend_ is _royally _engaged to an autistic lemon." The bat turned slyly over her winged shoulder. "Gogoboi37 says, 'yo dawg, my lady was in da same spicy pickle, so she overruled that spit on the count of a _challenge_: the princess can kick the engagement if that girlie has a counter duel, challenge, or any other right of passing of her choice…geez, Lemonbutt's been getting around, there's like forty other peeps saying the same thing."

"A challenge!" Bonnibel gasped, smacking her forehead. "Of course! But why wouldn't the books have said so…?"

Something seemed off there…shouldn't this have been something apparent from the beginning?

"What's that, Bonnie?" Marceline murmured, and the princess slowly looked up. She knew what that sultry, purring tone meant.

Naked Marceline was back in the flesh, a pun that may have been intended if all that skin wasn't wiping Bonnibel's skull clean. She was leaning back against the younger girl's cluttered desk. An all too knowing smile etched across her beautiful face, lashes lowered, brow quirked.

"Did you just say I'm your girl?"

Bubblegum pulled the glasses from her face. "I believe you heard that correctly."

"Did you just say…" the vampire asked, her face feigning innocence—wide eyes, lips making a coy circle, head dipping—"that you _love me_?"

Bonnibel rose up on her knees, tossing the document into the pile. "That I did."

"That you _want_ me?" Marceline crooned, kicking books out of her way as she languidly stalked towards the princess.

"Yes," Bubblegum whispered almost hoarsely. Marceline's hand splayed across the bed, her body moving forward in a rolling crawl. Between the princess's legs, between her hips, her breasts, Bonnibel falling back on her elbows.

Marceline bowed till their lips were barely touching, and Bonnibel quivered, her eyes closing tight.

"That you _need_ me?"

A pair of hips grinded into hers at the word _need_, a hand sliding up the back of her neck to grip her damp pink hair.

"Marceline," Bonnibel murmured, swallowing thickly. "Kiss me already."

And then she was between Bubblegum's arms, their bodies only separated by the clothes Bonnibel wished she had never put on.

Her hands crushed down Marceline's back, clawing at her hips, squeezing the full curves of her backside, their mouths locked.

_Please let Gogoboi37 be right_, the princess willed, feeling the queen's thigh slip between hers.

_Please? _Her leg shifted up between the vampire's, and Marceline breathed harshly into their growing kiss.

_Just let me have this_. They moved against another, grey hands impatiently pulling at her hoodie, yanking the pink shirt beneath up and over her chest.

_Just let me have her_. Marceline's mouth was on her right breast, sucking, and Bonnibel was arching beneath her, biting her own lip hard enough to draw blood. The vampire kissed her hard, her tongue lapping the red there with feverish hunger. Their hips moved harder, legs rubbing, and Marceline's hands clenched hers to the sheets.

_Just…just_… The bare skin of their fronts collided, hot and damp and Bubblegum's toes curled hard enough to pop.

_Just let me…_

Marceline's crimson black eyes pinned hers, a tortured bliss furrowing her brow and parting her lips, loose strands of her hair slipping across her forehead as she rocked back and forward.

Her fingers loosened, the flush flaring across her usually pale skin telling Bonnibel all she needed to know.

She shifted up, kissing her, rolling them over, their hips never missing a beat. And strained under being so close, the princess yanked Marceline's head back by her hair, biting down on the part of her throat that encased a pulse thundering for her alone.

"_Bonnie_," the vampire cried tightly, her nails digging into Bubblegum's shoulders, hips bucking. The younger girl sucked down as hard as she could, and something rippled through her so momentously that pried her mouth open.

Marceline shuddered beneath her, pressing her lips to the princess's ear to pour a moan there. Like a secret, folded and pressed just for them. They stilled, quivering legs falling limp.

"Holy _funk_, I should get you out of spicy pickles more often," the rocker panted. Bonnibel nodded lazily, her brow dully sinking.

"How did you unzip my pants with your thigh?" she breathed.

"Did you give me a _hickey?"_ Marceline whispered.

"Uh-huh," Bubblegum smiled, her eyes closing.

"Well look at you," the vampire chuckled warmly, pressing a loose kiss to her cheek.

"I'll look at your mom," Bonnibel mumbled, already half gone.

"Goodnight to you too."


	5. Chapter 5

"Bonnie…"

"Mmgrfert."

"Bonnie…hey…wake up."

"Wiggawut?" Bubblegum mumbled heavily, eyes still closed. Her arms tighten around Marceline, and she buries her face deeper into the older girl's neck. "Go to sleep baby."

Marceline's chin pressed to her temple, her hands rubbing Bonnibel's back. "I just realized something."

"Hm?" Bubblegum said, feeling _much more_ okay with being awake at the firm hands working into her muscles-

"You created Lemongrab. You're like his mom. It's like you're engaged to your son."

Bonnibel's eyes snapped open, a noise akin to glass shattering in her head.

The vampire yawned, stretching out against her like a cat before pressing back flush. "Oh man, I feel so much better having that off my chest."

"Well what am I supposed to do with it?" Bubblegum almost hysterically demanded.

Marceline answered with a quiet snore. And if she didn't love the girl so much, she might've kicked and screamed. And Peebles was one nasty kicker.

Instead she slithered to the foot of the bed, rubbing her mouth slowly. Well, she might as well be up anyway. There was a challenge to appoint, and a half hour of sleep in the past twenty something hours would have to do for now.

She was about to get up when a floating thought snagged on the forefront of her brain. She paused, looking back over at the girl so peacefully asleep in her bed. In her absence, Marceline had unconsciously spooned the princess's share of the blankets. Instead of saying 'aw,' however, Bonnibel leaned over the vampire's hips, her mouth inches away from a pointed ear.

"_Then I guess that makes you the daddy."_

Marceline frowned in her sleep, her eyelids twitching, and Bubblegum _laughed_. She strolled towards her door and swung it open. At least she got to walk out without having night terrors—

"_OH GOB!"_ she erupted, jolting at the sight of Peppermint Butler, her back slamming the door shut.

"Your highness," he bowed.

"Peppermint!" she exclaimed through a tight smile, very aware that her clothes were twisted awkwardly from all the… _activity_. Including her jeans. Which were still unzipped. "I uh…how long have you been there, little buddy?"

"Not long," he chirped, and she might've relaxed a tad if he hadn't thrown in, "just a few hours."

"Why didn't you knock?" Bonnibel bit the inside of her cheek, trying hard not to cry. Because she could really punch something right now.

"I did, but then I heard you having your night terrors, which you've asked not to be wakened from so that you could defeat your inner demons. So I stayed out here and waited for you instead." He smiled dutifully. "I have no doubt you won."

_Okay, rock with it Peebles. For all he knows, you're frazzled and frumpy from all that special thinking you do_.

"Ah well, you know," she coughed loudly, zipping up. "Sometimes I take them, sometimes they take me." And of course Marceline's corrupted her, because she has to fight the sudden urge to giggle over her own sentence. "_Anyway, _what is it that I can help you with?"

"Well, we are two days away from Earl of Lemongrab bringing unspeakable horrors in which to rule us with," Peppermint casually shrugged.

"Oh!" Bubblegum smacked a hand to her forehead. "That's right! Last night, I used the computer to expand my search and found that I could issue a challenge. But I'm concerned because I didn't find it in any of our documents."

"I'm afraid that's because you weren't supposed to find it."

"I know, right? So I'm trying to say what now?" Bonnibel's sentence reared ended itself, and she stared down at very apologetic looking butler.

"I had to remove every trace of the counter challenge, because Marceline cannot reign besides you," Peppermint confessed, his head bowing. More of his body, really. He was a face with limbs, after all.

"Oh Peppermint, you really shouldn't _know about Marceline you know about Marceline," _Bonnibel blundered, dragging her lower eyelids down until they nearly touched her lips.

"Yes m'lady," he said quietly. "That, and all and all it's just better if we kill Lemongrab."

"Okay," Bubblegum frowned into her hands. There was no time to be as mortified or worried as she wanted to be at all the things wrong with that sentence. She looked up, fingers rubbing her temples furiously. "What does my relationship with Marceline have to do with creating an impossible—and _non lethal _-challenge? It doesn't have to involve her, we've only been dating for six months, marriage hasn't crossed my mind—"

"With all due respect, it _has_," Peppermint interjected gently. "You wouldn't stay with someone whom you didn't see a future with."

"No, I wouldn't, but _just because someone isn't the end all doesn't mean they don't matter to you now_," she hissed, feeling a rather urgent need to discuss this elsewhere.

"_Then you don't want to marry Marceline_?" Peppermint whispered, catching the hint.

Bonnibel blinked.

She did…didn't she?

"_I don't know if I_ _can_," she answered truthfully, though it felt an awful lot more like a deflection. "_Our kingdoms couldn't mix in a million years_."

"_Precisely," _Peppermint replied. "_Perhaps we should discuss this downstairs?"_

Oh _now_ he offers. She nodded, and he tottered down the steps. Bonnibel cast a single, guilty look at the door.

It was just too soon was all. She knew how much she needed the girl having a sleep fit inside; she had already lost her once, and that was pain she never needed to go through again.

Their first relationship had been a clumsy try, like a preteen's first kiss in a dark room. This time was, without a doubt,_ beautiful_.

As if Marceline was somehow picking up on her thoughts, she strained them in her head before walking downstairs.

Her foot touched the second landing, and she ran a hand through her messy pink hair to soothe it down. And the notion that she had been crushing under other ideas popped up like a beach ball shoved underwater.

_But it wouldn't always be. _

-O-

Marceline jerked awake, the panic slow to fade.

Half of her body was clung upwardly to Bonnibel's wall, the other half entangled in the girl's bed. But with the night terrors she just had, that wasn't really surprising.

She couldn't really recall what they had been about, and if her mind wanted to block it, she had _no_ issue with that.

"Bonnie?" she called, pausing with a wince. Her fangs were embedded in the pink plaster of the princess's room, her tongue scraping the hard surface.

Her stomach grumbled, but she popped her teeth free, wiping her mouth. This cheap stuff wouldn't cut it anymore. Delicious, decadently sweet pink was something she had become intoxicatingly spoiled on.

Speaking of which—or whom, rather—where was her Bonnibel?

Minding the thin bar of sunlight at the bottom of the curtains, Marceline drifted over towards the princess's closet.

"_I would just feel better if you kept some clothes here. I don't need you bubbling into ashes because you slept in."_

At the time, the vampire had said something smug and sexual about staying up all night long. Or maybe she just said, _Bleh_.

And Bubblegum had rolled her eyes with that _oh you_ expression; arms akimbo, weight leaning to the same side her head was cocked to.

Now she was a tad bit grateful the girl had suggested it. But where the _plum_ had Bonnie put them?

"Oh my Glob, you flipping neat freak," she grumbled, fingers tapping down drawers and flitting past the pinks and purples the girl liked to wear so much. She knew the top drawer held the princess's underwear. And she really didn't need to dig through it again. But it had been such a long time _focus your naked butt on finding something at least blue to wear._

She hunkered down, craning over Bonnibel's shoes to peer in the corner of the closet.

"Oh sweet big buff babies," she muttered, struck at the large filing cabinet tucked away there.

She had already began to suspect that Bonnibel's cleanliness was more of a compulsion.

And did she really want to know?

_Um. Yes._

She crawled inside, heels and flats and sandals and flip flops digging into her shins and knees, her fingers pushing the lock in and pulling the middle drawer out.

There were files ranging from 'J' to 'M,' and now, she didn't want to look anymore. But her hands moved forward on their own, peeling open said 'M.'

She stared at the clothes she had been searching for, each article neatly folded and pressed. A palm lifted to cover her mouth.

Because those weren't the only things.

There were faded fliers from _The Screams_, a now dead rose she had gifted the girl three months ago, ticket stubs to a late night flick they had caught—

Every tangible bit of their relationship, old and new, stared back at her.

Marceline plucked her clothes up with her finger tips, head shaking as she slowly closed the drawer. _Nope. Just going to leave that one alone_.

She got dressed hunched down in the closet, shimmying up a pair of jeans.

_I do not need to see what else she has filed away. This girl needs to loosen up before she starts collecting the dust bunnies_.

She slipped on dark blue bra, adjusting the straps.

_I don't. _

She yanked a black muscle tee on, shaking her hair a bit at the shoulders before slipping her arms into an extra pair of long gloves.

_Noooo, I don't need to seeeeee anything else in that cabineeettt…cue rad guitar solo Bm G D…_

Marceline tackled the filing cabinet, and having barely closed, the middle drawer shot open, file 'M' belching up the looser papers.

"Spit," she hissed, snatching the closest parchment from the air-

Her face dropped whatever expression she had been holding.

Had she read that right?

She squinted down, pupils dissecting every letter.

"Oh," she whispered, sliding slowly off the cupboard, her body draining of strength.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for not updating at optimal speed guys! I'm making friends here in (insert where I now live), and I'm going to be back in (insert home town) for the weekend to have fun with my family. But don't worry! I'm still writing a shit load of our OTP. So much so, I had to add everyone's names to my dictionary, just so I didn't have to tell spell check to lick itself. Love you all with mad, mad love. **

**-O-**

It was written in cursive, lacey and loose pen strokes. Somehow, the words rested one after the other in perfect lines.

And being a thousand, she better know how to read.

But her brain isn't wrapping around those words. It's not supposed to be in Bonnibel's handwriting. It's not supposed to be in Bubblegum's closet, much less in her brainlord castle of a head.

There was just no way that the princess could honestly think this…not about her. Not now, at least.

Bonnibel had assured her earlier that she didn't.

But it's there as surely as Marceline's hand is sliding down from the tip of her nose to the curve of her chin.

'_Queen Bonnibel Abadeer. _

_Queen Marceline Bubblegum._

…_Yeah, definitely taking her last name.'_

The laugh that escaped her was breathy and surprisingly loud, her skull coming back to thump against drawer in an echoing 'bang!'

"_Bonnie," _she practically hissed, her grin bending her eyes closed. What the actual bunk was going on around here? When had she even _written _this?

She didn't even…couldn't…

Her smile faded slowly, eyes embedded in the hangers above her.

_Queen Bonnibel Abadeer_.

Her lips mouthed it, feeling the curve and texture of every letter. Marceline's eyes widened, searching the air in front of her as her mind churned.

"Bonnibel…" she whispered.

And she's a thousand years old. She's been all around Ooo and wars and the Nightosphere. She had better know when she was madly, _terribly_ in love. And when to screw all conventional paths to happily ever after. To screw 'it's only been' six months.

She had better know when to propose.

-O-

"Do you understand, Princess?" Peppermint asked tenderly. His hand rested atop hers.

Across the table, Bonnibel stared at him over the napkin pressed to her nose, eyes damp.

"Yes."

And she did, really. Hadn't she told Finn the same thing about Flame Princess?

Hadn't she been so adamant towards the boy, and _not _out of the jealousy Jake was so sure of?

What she couldn't admit to the dog at the time was what she couldn't admit to herself then, either.

_She's only going to hurt you like I had to hurt Marceline_.

_Like I have to hurt Marceline_.

She had gone home that night and stared down at her lap, draped in the shirt she couldn't let go of. How easy it was for Finn throw caution to the wind and be with the girl he loved…

Could've it had been that easy to stay with Marceline this entire time?

And now?

Her words of responsibility, of longing and sacrifice sat in front of her, salted and ready to eat.

"Why didn't you tell me all of this until now?" she asked, though it wasn't fair to put on the butler.

She knew better. Had known better for quite some time.

"In honesty, I didn't think much of it until Lemongrab," Peppermint bowed. "But once he fails for your hand, word is going to get out. Soon, every suitor with an eye on Candy Land is going to be pounding down our doors for your affections. One of them is going to have every single standard and quality that Marceline cannot. As powerful as a princess such as yourself can be, it's time you become a Queen." The butler sighed. "And with all due respect…I had assumed you would reach this conclusion on your own long before I would ever have to intervene."

"I was just so happy…I didn't even think what would happen…" Her voice died off in her throat, and Peppermint patted her hand.

"I'll leave you some time to think. It's your choice, after all," he soothed. "If you need anything, just call—"

"Bonnie!" Marceline exclaimed, bursting into the door under a sunhat.

"Marceline," the princess crumbled. It was one thing talking to her closest friend and advisor, but to the vampire herself? It was all too much—

"Marceline!" squealed Peppermint's voice.

"_Eyebrows_?" snarled Marceline.

"RICARDO?!" Bonnibel shrieked, her face hauling out of her hands in some sort of martial arts position.

"Bonnibel!" Marceline yelled incredulously, jabbing her hands out towards Peppermint.

"Peppermint?" Bubblegum spat, staring at the vampire as if she had lost her brains.

"Your highness!" the butler cried, cowering behind his chair. Only his head suddenly seemed to have a curve rolling down the middle, like a widow's peak. And his eyes suddenly seemed to have two big bushy streaks over them…

"_Peppermint_?" she asked slowly, terror breaking out over her skin in the form of sweat bullets.

Marceline cut between them, fingers splayed and hair bristling. And she had never met him, but nothing looked _that_ intensely faced without being maniacal. "Holy spit Bonnie, you _do_ need sleep. You were delusional enough to _fall for that?"_

Marceline was utterly correct, something Bonnibel's eyes were slowly seeing more and more. As if Peppermint was slowly transforming back into the dramatically faced heart rather than…well, being the dramatically faced heart under poorly drawn white stripes and stiff blue suit.

Woo, boy. Half an hour of sleep in the last twenty something hours _wasn't _cutting it.

"You monster," Ricardo sputtered, trying his hardest to crouch but failing miserably, the formal attire so uncomfortable looking on him that Bonnibel winced for his pinched limbs. "She deserves better!"

"C'mon, fun sized," Marceline growled wickedly, crooking a sharply nailed finger. "You're lucky I'm hungry- it'll be over before you know it."

"What are you even doing here?" Bonnibel snapped, pressing up against the queen to both pull her back and hide her body from those brutal eyebrows. "What do you even have to do with Lemongrab?"

It clicked, almost simultaneously in both girls' heads for entirely different reasons, and they stared at each other in stupefied horror, clues echoing inside their blown minds.

"_Geez, Lemonbutt's been getting around, there's like forty other peeps saying the same thing."_

"_Shave his skin off and wear his flesh suit_."

"_Ice King_," they both hissed.

-O-

Despite everything crushing her horizon, Bonnibel couldn't help but feel her curiosity peak.

She was sure that Marceline was going to stuff Ricardo into her mouth and drain him out of existence. Even _more_ so when she learned that he was Ice King's actual heart.

Instead, the vampire had somehow paled.

The sun hadn't even set completely when she had them rush out, Bonnibel astride her massive wolf pelt with Ricardo tucked under her pink arm.

Well, he was more of in a headlock, drifting in and out of consciousness, but 'c'mon, who's keeping track?

"He'll definitely be in Lemongrab Castle," she hollered over the wind and thundering paws, and Marceline leaned to the right, curving into the empty kingdom, save for a few startled Lemon camels.

She had never seen the girl so _focused_. So willing to have mercy on anyone, much less someone who had crossed Bonnibel. So…so _headed right for that window_—

"Marceline, don't!" she began to say, but they were already soaring up, Bubblegum holding out Ricardo like a shield.

They crashed straight through, Marceline skidding across the tile inside. And there on the thrones sat an outraged Lemongrab one (or two) and what was _clearly_ a Lemongrab stuffed with an old and dying wizard.

Yeah…Peebles hadn't exactly been getting shut eye before that either. _Stupid sexy vampire._

Said stupid and sexy vampire morphed back into herself, holding Bonnibel piggy back style.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" screamed Lemongrab one and/or two. "WHAT IS THIS?"

"Stuff it, dog buns," Marceline muttered, carrying Bubblegum right on up to the poorly disguised Ice King. "You can fix him, right?" she rushed, panting hard from the run, eyes darting between the princess and the royal flesh suit.

"Of course," Bonnibel said, squeezing her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"NO! NONE OF THIS IS OKAY!" screamed Lemongrab. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE EARL?!"

"Yeah, just help him," Marceline whispered hoarsely. She put the girl down, grabbing the remaining lemon by his scruff and slamming him into the floor.

"You couldn't tell that's _not_ your bro?" she hissed.

"I don't think he can," Bonnibel stressed. "Please hit him so he doesn't have to see this."

She had barely finished her sentence when Marceline socked the back of his squirming yellow head, the flailing body under her collapsing into a limp pile.

"…I think I just remembered what my night terrors were about," the queen said, slowly backing up and off.

"Ice King must've realized that he could make it look as though Lemongrab one had killed Lemongrab two," Bonnibel explained, tugging away at morbid costume until a greying, rat tail excuse of a beard coughed out. "Their kingdom is so pointless that it's compatible with nearly every princess's, after all."

"But when he went after you," Marceline filled dully, her gaze intent on the facial hair the princess was parting. "His heart got jealous and broke out as 'Peppermint' in order to trick you into killing Lemongrab…"

"A.K.A riding of any remains of the Ice King, thus freeing himself forever. I guess _someone _was delusional enough to think that would win me over," Bonnibel scowled down at Ricardo, who was weakly squirming in her hands over the dark hole beneath him.

"Put him in," urged Marceline, face frantic. Again, it only served to bewilder Bonnibel. Since when had Marceline _ever_ remotely suggested the Ice King was 'a okay,' or whatever the punk kids said was cool these days?

Nonetheless, Bubblegum obeyed, stuffing Ricardo right back where he belonged.

Or at least she tried. There was something in the way…

A tiny and stifled groan sounded from inside, and Bonnibel's eyes widened, yanking Ricardo out and reaching in up to her shoulder—

"Peppermint!" she cried, yanking the nude little butler out.

"Your highness!" he hacked, crossing his legs to cover himself. "I'm terribly sorry this happened! I went to skin him, and all of the sudden, it was the Ice king-!"

"Shh, it's okay," Bubblegum said, placing him down so that she could yank his suit off of the heart. "Here, we'll get you cleaned up back home."

This time, Ricardo slipped in without a hassle, and with the beard sealing shut seconds after her hands were free, both girls stripped the rest of old Lemongrab off.

The Ice King lay stiffly on the floor besides Earl two, as wrinkled and faded as a leaf in autumn. But the blue was slowly beginning to return to his cheeks, his moldy gown shuddering.

"C'mon," Bonnibel murmured, folding the flesh suit under one arm and cradling Peppermint with the other. "I think I can fix Lemongrab."

Marceline nodded, lingering on the carpeted steps until the princess leaned against her, sighing wearily.

"Right," the queen murmured suddenly, as if waking back up. "You need sleep too."

She cast one last look over her shoulder at the king, much like she might've for an old friend, and Bonnibel was going to have to make a mental note to ask her about all of this later—

Now it was the princess's time to pause.

Because even if it had been from Ricardo, the heart had only been manipulating her with _fact_.

And after tonight, there might not be a later.


	7. Chapter 7

They arrived back into the kingdom just in time—Bonnibel had nearly nodded off in the crook of the giant bat's elbow at least four times.

Peppermint had been greeted as a hero upon the sight of Lemongrab, but no one else hugged him because he stank quite terribly of lonely crust.

As he recounted his tale to those brave enough to stand near him, though, the princess couldn't help but wonder if the _real_ Peppermint knew about Marceline.

And if he would agree with the laws Ricardio had saved for last minute.

But everyone was tucked back into their sheets, and now the girls were left alone.

"Here…you can work on that later," Marceline murmured. She gingerly pulled the flesh suit from Bonnibel's weak fingers. Though, in her head, the princess had fought a bit harder to keep it.

"Marce—" she began, but the vampire leaned in and sealed her protest close with a kiss.

"Go to bed," the queen breathed against her lips. And Bonnibel held tightly to her neck, leaning into her chest.

"Not without you," she said between lip locking. Marceline would've definitely agreed, her hands already dropping Lemongrab shavings and slipping up beneath the princess's shirt to knead the curves of her waist.

But a low "ow" sounded at their mixing feet, and both girls froze mid kiss.

Lemongrab somehow looked up, his thin fingers curling, and they split, Bubblegum swallowing thickly and Marceline digging her fingers into her eyes, as if to claw the image out.

"Okay!"

"Yeah, later."

'Later' was a three hour stint, Lemongrab stitched and soured and puckered into at _least_ a healing state. She felt the fingers tickle at her sides, and Bonnibel turned from where she slumped across her desk, a notepad sticking to her face.

Marceline scooped her up with a chuckle, peeling the notebook and feeling the princess curl into her arms. She was heavy from sleep, though 'heavy' was more of a 'light' to the queen.

"Oh Marmalade," Bubblegum breathed against her neck, her eyes still closed. "Don't go yet."

"What?" the vampire quirked, her mouth shrugging. "Where would I want to be besides here?"

"Just stay," Bonnibel whispered, but something sounded too forlorn in her slumber voice. Marceline laid her down in her bed, leaning her all the way back into the mattress.

But the princess's arms slid around her, tight as a boa hug, keeping her anchored down and against her.

"Bonnie," Marceline groaned at the lips slowly stroking her neck. "You have to sleep."

"I'm not tired," the princess murmured, but the vampire gently plucked her hands from where they crossed between her shoulders.

"Then just talk to me," Marceline purred, and it was seducing in another way. She slipped over Bonnibel almost protectively, molding their bodies together, her lips dusting the rosy girl's forehead and cheek bones.

The princess felt _safe_. The type of safety usually saved for children, who had been told their beds were impenetrable dens from monsters.

Because even if Marceline could be quite the hellion, nothing in Ooo could possibly get past her. What was more frightening than an undead prowler of blood? And who loved her more than anyone possibly could?

_But will you love me, after what I have to say?_

Her heart squirmed, but her mouth touched down to Marceline's ear, feeling the vampire lazily nuzzle her jaw.

"_I miss you when you go,_" she mumbled. She can feel the darkness swell around her, her body warm. Sleep was coming whether she wanted it or not. "_I wait for you when you're not here. Even if I know I'm going to see you that night, or I'm waist deep in royal pains."_

Marceline held her in the cave of her arms, and she can feel the Queen's head resting besides hers on the pillows. Her pink hands trailed up the vampire's shirt, bracing on the skin of her back. And she needed to be closer, though she was sure reality would argue it wasn't possible.

"I'm always here," the older girl said, and Bonnibel can almost feel her grin in the dark. It's not the one where she might as well be baring her fangs, or the smug curl of her lips. It was the lopsided one, where she crinkled her nose and squinted her eyes, the type of smile she might have had as a mere demon before she was branded into something else. A childlike glee.

"_You know what I mean_," Bonnibel replied, smiling herself. She snuggled into the vampire, her nose burying in the black strip of hair just behind her ear. "_You tell me something now._"

Marceline's throat muscles moved in a swallow. There's a flit of tightening in her muscles, and Bubblegum's brow furrowed on reflex. But she's too tired to speak. She can feel her consciousness beginning to tuck itself in. She can only listen.

"_I miss you too. You make my music soft. You make me stare at the sunlight at the edge of my cave with hate. You make me wish I wasn't such a night lurker."_

Her voice echoed in Bonnibel's ears, sliced with a shudder.

And Bubblegum felt her heart pound up.

"_I know it hasn't been long, but it feels like it has. It feels like you're been around as long as I have."_

_Yes_? A tiny part of the princess said. And it's surrounded by doubt and fear, and the will for Marceline to stop. But it's there, and it doesn't seem to be observing the points the Candy Law or the one thing she simply hadn't considered.

"_I feel like I'm falling for you like I did back when you first put the shirt on, and you asked me how it looked. Like we never broke up and never fell out and never fought."_

_Yes?_ Her breathing has deepened, and Bubblegum can feel herself drifting off. But that tiny part is standing, and aching with hope bright enough to explore the bottom of the sea.

"_So I don't want to leave…"_

She fell quiet, and Bonnibel slowed her breathing. Her body slipped into being limp, and she hoped the girl wasn't listening to her heart beat. It was the only part of her that remained so awake, it's hammering keeping her that tiny inch above sleep.

But if she could just fake it long enough, just before the real thing swept in.

She was about to finally cave when Marceline said it. It was unreserved and unfiltered, the type of tone someone could only feel comfortable enough to say such a thing in if they really thought they were alone.

"_So don't say no tomorrow." _

_I won't_, the ray inside said. But the rest of the princess tumbled into a dreamless sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Oh my Gaw, guys, my life just skipped into super mega happy fun time and I came back to a bunch of really sweet reviews! This chapter is for Jem (yourcloudnine), Brooke, Bea, Kiki, and (probably) Burnet for giving me the greatest review of all 3 YOU GUYS MADE MY LIFE. MADE. IT.**

**Also, I go on bubbline tumblrs all the time, and when I see someone mentioning my story, it makes me feel like a rock star—so thank you guys for that too:3 I love you! Let's form a cult and live in the woods together! HNNGGH**

**-O-**

One eyelid slowly peeled open, and Bonnibel blearily stared at the pillow curving up and into the corner of her glazed tear duct.

From the dim and dusky lighting, it looked an awful lot like evening. She stirred her limbs, shifting up into a sit and rubbing her eyes. Her mouth tasted dry and tacky, and her stomach was already growling when she felt a blow of cool air from her window.

"Hey," Marceline's voice murmured, a pair of lips nipping the corner of the princess's mouth. The action itself sent a wave of joy and agony through her, but she hid it by wrapping her arms around the vampire's neck, burying a smile into her dark hair.

Which felt an awful lot softer than it usually did.

"Did you brush your hair?" Bonnibel asked, almost perplexed, and the queen snorted, rubbing her back.

"Hey, I do it from time to time."

"Marceline," she sighed, and the vampire smelt amazing.

_Amazing like one last breath before you go under. _ She shoved the thought away, pulling Marceline back enough to look her in the eye.

"What time is it?" she asked slowly, and the queen scrunched her nose in thought.

"About 5:30."

"I slept all night and day?"

"Ehhh," Marceline shrugged a shoulder, flipping her hand a bit.

It clicked inside Bubblegum's mind, and if she hadn't been awake before, she was now.

"…I slept for _two_ nights and days?" Bonnibel asked, dragging her face skin down until her eyeballs and gums were monstrously apparent. The queen winced, pulling her pink hands away.

"Trust me, you needed the sleep."

"But who ran the kingdom? Is Peppermint okay? He doesn't deal well with being stuffed in old man bodies—Lemongrab! Is he still a flesh suit-!?"

Her panicked ranting was cut off with a swift graze of lip.

"Shhh," the vampire hummed, her tongue tracing the front of Bonnibel's teeth.

"_Marce, I have forty eight hour breath," _the princess tried to say. Or more aptly, muttered hopelessly against a torrent of very lovely kisses.

"I don't care," Marceline muttered, pressing her back and back until she was sandwiched between the rocker and her sheets.

And while saying 'no' at this point was far from possible, it was hard concentrating on the hands dragging down her front.

Of course, the girl straddling her hips was sexy.

She was—if not sneakily—crafty and clever.

She was even sweet and attentive. Well, she learned to be. Especially after the crash courses, like the time she tossed a juvenile gator in Bonnibel's preoccupied tub to 'set the mood.'

The fingers inching down her rosy thighs were talented in more ways than one—the younger girl had seen an entire slew of fans break down into hysterics at the mere pluck of a guitar string. The same fans blacked out when she ran a sound test on the microphone.

Marceline was all of these things and so much more.

But she was also one thing Bubblegum wasn't.

One thing that neither of them could change…

She gripped the vampire's back, her cheek pressing to the back of Marceline's head.

Now wasn't the time. Telling the older girl things in bed hadn't proved to be the most tactful resort.

And as delicate as a thin and fine knife point, Marceline's voice tip toed into her ear. "What are you thinking about?"

It might've thrown the princess into brief seize of irrational panic; Marceline couldn't read minds.

But the vampire's words were too breathy.

The grey finger tips hooked into her underwear were trembling at the thighs they usually slid panties down in smooth grace.

Bonnibel peered out, and their eyes clashed—startled green against taken aback red—, Marceline sucking an inhale as sharply as if the princess could reach out and steal it.

"…_What are __**you**__ thinking about_?" Bubblegum asked slowly, her brow moving to furrow.

At least she didn't _think_ the queen read minds.

_Say 'what' in that funny_ _way you do,_ she mentally commanded.

"Wut?" the vampire stammered, something of lilac staining her pale cheeks in a blush.

Bonnibel's face pinched in horror. _Oh Gob, can you_?

"Don't make that face, you know I say it wrong sometimes," Marceline glowered, leaning back in to try to kiss it off.

_Okay, calm down, coincidence. _

"What _are_ you thinking about?" Bubblegum asked, leaning her mouth back a hair.

The vampire licked her lips and swallowed hard. "I just…" She sighed rough, dragging a hand up through her hair to sweep it back over her ear. "You're just beautiful Bonnie. And I missed you. Technically you've been gone for two whole days. And I had to stay back at my place because everyone was always coming in to check in on you."

She pressed her mouth tenderly to Bonnibel's, and the princess knew she meant every word. Bubblegum could go through a swamp tornado and come out the other side with leech marks on every pore, and Marceline would think she was the hottest thing since cake.

And as for missing, well, way to make things harder. Bubblegum felt her heart loop, and _why_.

Why did she have to say that? Why did she have to make the princess feel like she could just lay in these arms forever?

Forever wasn't an option.

But theirs lips crashed anyway, and now Marceline's hands were almost rigid in their descent—

"VAMPIRE!"

Something smacked hard enough between the queen's shoulder blades to crush her down against Bonnibel, and the princess griped her upper arms in blind panic.

Marceline roared, arching up and back, hands wheeling backwards for the figure crouched on her back-

"Peppermint!?" Bonnibel yelped, abruptly sitting up to snatch the butler's elbows. Marceline hissed, nearly frothing at the mouth, and she curled down into the princess's lap in a surprising bout of self restraint.

And this was all happening too fast, but that _was definitely a tiny stake he was stabbing into Marceline's GOBLAMB SPINE—_

"WHAT THE MOTHER LICKING BUNK ARE YOU DOING?" the princess seethed, yanking Peppermint up so hard and fast that even the vampire yapped and cringed.

"I'm here to stop her from stealing our kingdom!" the butler snarled, waving what appeared to be a bloodied and sharpened popsicle stick.

"You're supposed to stab me in the heart, you _butt_," Marceline growled, her body hunching up. But Bubblegum pressed a firm hand to her nape, lifting the struggling candy man higher.

"Nope. We're not doing this here. Everybody downstairs."

She paused, then added just as vehemently, "_after I get my pants on._"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Oh my goodness! Sorry my lovies! I'm hideously late. But I'm BACK IN BLACK. And white. Because that's writing for you. Once again to Jem (yourcloudnine), Brooke, Bea, Kiki, and Burnet for being cray cray stoked about this story! And all you other lovely, sexy adventurer reviewers and readers :3 you guys makin' me happy. **

**-O-**

"I'm sorry I attacked you, Marceline," Peppermint said rather sincerely. "Being stuffed in an old man's body can do things to me."

"So I heard," Marceline growled, but it was muffled by the table she was laying belly down on. Bonnibel shot the back of her dark hair a sympathetic look, her hands busy with their light dabbing between the vampire's bare shoulder blades. Fast healing only meant that germs got sucked in faster, after all.

"I used to caddie for your father in Put Put Kingdom," the butler continued, but Bubblegum shushed him with a frantic shake of her head.

"I've seen the pictures," the queen grumbled on. She turned her head with a scowl, her face now red and marked from the table top. "So, to avoid this sort of shenanigan again, I wasn't about to suck the pink out of her life source."

Her dark eyes darted upwards in thought. "Well, maybe out of her-"

"Any who," the princess sung, shoving Marceline's face back down, "I think we all learned a valuable lesson today, the more you know the more you sew and all that fun stuff…"

"So then you two are together," Peppermint said tightly, and Bonnibel's face blanched. Where Ricardio had been—_manipulatively—_gentle, the real butler would not.

"Okay, I'm going to say this once," the queen muttered almost lazily, lightly pulling Bubblegum's hands away to look up again. She sighed, her grey lips bunching till a single fang poked out, and the princess could only brace herself for whatever tact and grace about to come out of that mouth.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Bonnibel sputtered, but Marceline sat up topless. _Oh, there it is_.

Peppermint waited, seemingly unfazed, but her pink hands clapped across the vampire's chest from behind, her own pressing into the older girl's back.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone about Bonnie and I. She was reluctant to let everyone to know, and I wanted to respect her wishes."

"Oh. Well, thank you," the butler nodded amicably.

"But I'm better than any frozen banana will ever be at guarding," Marceline continued, hands on her hips under steadied eyes. "I'm willing to keep wolves, zombies, and flesh eating unicorns out of our dates. I'm nothing like my dad. And I'm willing to prove myself against any reason you could ever come up with-"

"You're immortal," Peppermint interjected without a blink.

Bonnibel's chest tightened, her face going utterly helpless. _No, not like this. _But the butler went right on ahead.

"You're the Queen of Vampires," he stated darkly. "Even if you two found a way to peacefully absorb another's kingdoms, even if you aced every soft, under handed challenge Bonnibel could make. Even if you could prove to me that you _aren't_ lobbing the ball into the golf gator pits just to force me to make you new gator skin boots, at some point, the princess will expire. And you will be the sole ruler of both kingdoms." His face bounced back from its grave bow with a sheepish smile. "Which is what I actually meant to say when I shanked you with my popsicle shiv."

Oh Gob.

It was here then. The vampire in her arms was silent and still, like an axe swung up high to be aimed down.

Right down through Bonnibel's heart.

"Yeah, I know," Marceline snorted with a half shrug. "Pretty sure that was obvious from the start."

"It was not!" the princess snapped, and the vampire grit her teeth as ten little filed nails dug down into her breasts. "It never even crossed my mind! _How are you so calm?"_

"Bull spit!" the vampire cackled with a wince, her fingers prying the princess's away. "How would a brainlord like you miss _that_?"

"Oh come now, Princess, you had to have been in denial," Peppermint chuckled along, but his amusement cut short. "However, since Marceline is somehow throwing the great balance by mentally besting you, I am curious to know if she has a solution with such calm air."

"Of course I don't," the queen frowned. "I'm sure as _hey_ not going to turn her into a vampire. She likes sunshine too much. But any time I've gone after something I've wanted, she's always grounded me." Marceline tilted her head up to look at the princess like someone might regard the warm sunset outside.

"She doesn't know the answer now. She'll figure it out later and come to me in her glasses and a sea of notes and that'll be that."

And she said it with such earnest assurance, her eyes soft over such a loving smile, that Bonnibel realized she was right.

That she had to be right, because that was the entire beauty of their relationship. Marceline took them to the sky, and it was the princess's job to touch them back down.

Now, how she hadn't seen _that_ all along was worrisome.

"Miss Abadeer, wait," Peppermint started warily, rising up in his chair.

But Marceline's toes jammed into his tiny mouth, and he squirmed violently, collapsing off his seat.

"C'mon!" the vampire growled adoringly, pulling the princess down over her shoulders in a fireman carry.

"SHIRT!" Bonnibel squealed, snatching it off of the table just in the nick of time. Because the queen crouched and shot up and out of the kitchen window, barreling them into the dusk.

"Hey, what-?" Marceline drifted in bewilderment. "How'd you get this shirt on me?"

"…_How_ did _you_ unclasp my bra?" Bubblegum raised an eyebrow.

"Right then, up we go!" Marceline grinned too quickly, and the princess's gut dropped too fast for her to scream, the pair of them rocketing to the blended smooth pinks and oranges and reds above.

The second their heads _puffed_ up through a thin layer of violet cloud, though, the vampire slowed, her hair first trailing behind her before it lifted up in her crawling descent. The queen hovered on the mist as if she were really sitting, her arms cradling the younger girl down into her lap.

The moon hung down over the girls like an enormous eye, the last rays of sunlight rippling about them in the wind. All around, the vast sky glowed, stretching on forever above, the ground like tiny patchwork beneath.

But the princess's breath wasn't gone for a single one of those reasons.

Marceline's eyes were pinned up to hers, searching. They were a startling crimson in this sort of twilight, her dark hair moving about her luminescent skin.

And oh, how scared she was under that determined gaze, lips licked from being dried under rapid inhales.

"Bonnibel?" she whispered with a hard swallow. "I know, okay? I know you've been given a thousand reasons to say no."

"Marceline?" Bubblegum breathed, her hands folding down on the vampire's shoulders to keep them from shaking. Marceline was too, though.

And it came as swift as it had in her dreams.

"But will you just marry me already?"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So, my time is definitely starting to get sucked up by other duties—sometimes I wish I got paid to write these, THEN YOU COULD ALL BE MY NUMBER ONE PRIORITY AND IT WOULD BE THE GREATEST JOB EVER. Except for wrestling gators of course. Anyway, I'm thinking about updating every Tuesday- then you guys could know when to check back, and I'd have a deadline to have stories written by. Let me know what you think! Otherwise, this chapter took a lot of thought, and I hope I'm moving this story in the direction I want while keeping your interest. **

**-O-**

Oh Gob.

Oh sweet Jett, what on earth was she doing?

Bonnibel was staring down at her, her skin just as rosy as the sunset bleeding around them, the air toying with her pink hair.

And she's just sitting here, being all awkward and spit.

Of course Bonnie wasn't going to say yes. Marceline hadn't been born yesterday.

The princess was—and she loved her, she really did—a grade A tight buns.

She wouldn't even go out for a night on the town unless the vampire requested it a week in advance.

And _forget_ about objecting to the kingdom law.

If she wanted to choke down her pride, this was an impulse to just have it _over_ with already. Why wait to be sad when it could just start already? The suitors were going to come pound down the doors, and even Shelby knew that the princess won't even let Marceline impale people on long poles anymore.

Bonnibel's mouth was opening.

Her bubblegum tongue was flexing against her sugar white molars.

Here it comes.

And Marceline's eyes squinted just the slightest, as if she was steeling herself for being struck, her muscles bracing for impact, her breath held…

"Yes."

"Okay," Marceline weakly caved, her head bowing down into Bonnibel's arms. "I get it, you need more time to figure stuff out—"

"…Marce, _yes_."

"—and I can give you space, I promise I won't write anything more about you in the girl's bathroom-"

"_Marceline Abadeer_," the princess stressed each syllable, cupping the older girl's face up. Oh no, Bonnie was crying. She wanted to sock the carp out of her, didn't she? And through a smile?! Well, she had really janked it up this time-

"_Yes_," Bonnibel laughed, pressing their foreheads together. "I said _yes_."

Marceline's eyes ping ponged off the rosy girl's features, her mouth ajar enough to show the peaks of her teeth.

"But…but what about all those rules? What about the kingdom?" the vampire stammered. "I thought-?"

Bonnibel's lips locked perfectly with hers, the princess's tear stricken cheek pressing to her cheekbone, and a bolt shot through Marceline's heart.

"I don't care," Bubblegum breathed, her head shaking. "I'll- _we'll_ figure it all out as we go. We always do. I'm sorry I didn't see it before. But I do now."

And the princess only dissolved into a fit of giggles when the queen's brain finally finished wrapping around her words, Marceline's lips all over her pink face, her neck, her ears, her nose, her hair.

But c'mon now, like _that_ was ever enough.

"Marceline, not here," Bonnibel said, pulling the shirt creeping up over her belly down. "We're like _3,000 feet off the ground_."

"I won't let you fall," the vampire whispered, her forked tongue tracing the rosy girl's inner ear with a hiss of cool breath.

"People will look up and see us," Bonnibel said, yanking an ashen hand from her inner thigh.

"We're over the clouds," Marceline replied, her hand pushing past to rub down the front of Bubblegum's pants. "Oh, _somebody's_ missed me…"

"_Aaahh_ it's freezing cold _and_ turning to night," Bonnibel said hoarsely, giving the queen's dark hair a nice and sharp tug.

"Your room then?" Marceline piped up, her head strained back.

"Yes. I mean no. I mean yes but _slllllooooowwwwwllLLLLLLLLLY YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYIIIEEEE!"_ the princess screamed as the vampire tilted all the way back, plummeting down through swelling shadows beneath them, the stars winking to life past Bonnibel's flailing feet.

Marceline crushed her arms around Bubblegum's waist, a wild laughter ringing out from her like bells. But she couldn't help it- she was literally_ and_ figuratively falling in love all over again.

The Queen of Vampires was _engaged._

To a princess who just leapt without looking for once.

To someone who was giving her a chance at _never_ being left behind.

And not just someone, but _Bonnibel_.

Her feet hit the ground hard, and Bubblegum must've realized the same thing. Because despite being as dazed and head rushed as she had to be at the moment, her arms held fast around Marceline's neck, her mouth crushing into hers.

The vampire staggered back into castle's thick wall with a thud, her hips jerking at the force of the princess undoing her jean's button and towing down the zipper. Teeth snared her neck, and Marceline huffed, gripping a light fistful of pink hair.

"I thought you said bedroom," she hissed, Bonnibel's hands dragging up her back and under her shirt, fingers tracing for the bra strap.

"Well then you better move fast because this is happening right now," Bubblegum somehow managed, pressing her tongue to the vampire's fangs.

"_Screw it_," Marceline muttered, caving to Bonnibel's mouth but busying her hands, the princess's pants down to her thighs before Bubblegum even registered it happening.

The vampire's lips moved down her jaw, her neck, her collarbones, nipping and licking every inch of skin she could reach, and if this rosy girl wasn't absolutely hers before, she was now.

The stomach under her mouth, the knees buckling at the vampire's hips, the hands seizing her dark hair. The girl weakly sliding down into her ready arms, the girl descending to the grass beneath her, trembling from much more than the cold.

Their eyes met, a needing and barely open dark green sea, Bonnibel's lips parting under a heavy blush and over a heaved chest.

Oh yes, this girl was all hers.

Pure love, in all its terrifying rawness, raged. And Marceline moved her hips between Bubblegum's legs in push, their lips erupting into the type of kiss other folks could usually only sing about.

The princess below her exhaled in a sigh, her fingers curling between the Queen's ribs, and the blood in Marceline's abdomen pooled heatedly as she inhaled with a shudder.

And then the stillness shattered, Bonnibel wrestling them onto their sides, her hands yanking Marceline's shirt up and over her head.

Sure, they had been forced to hold back on intimacy before. There had been times where upon _finally_ being left alone, they had reunited their skin with the force of a hurricane.

But this was the highest she had ever been.

Bonnibel's fingers touched where they had been _sorely_ missed, and Marceline gripped the back of the princess's neck, letting the girl above her pin her other grey wrist down into the grass.

Here she is loved, and here she is _wanted_. Not for being a vampire queen or a daughter or a child in need of a teddy bear.

"I love you," Bonnibel whispered in a kiss pressed to her cheek, her fingers curling inside. Marceline's head crushed into the nook of her neck and shoulder, eyes squeezed shut.

"I love you too," she breathed, her hips already beginning to rock.

The princess was always too gentle at first, but even that was nearly painful. The vampire's hand slipped away from her nape, tugging at her elbow now.

Bonnibel dragged her tongue up the queen's neck instead, finishing at her chin with a curling flick, and Marceline trembled under her in an attempt to not overpower the girl—

"Are you shaking?" Bubblegum frowned against her mouth.

"…A little bit," Marceline growled breathlessly, shifting herself. Bonnibel's hand had stopped entirely. She might've nipped the girl's lower lip in impatience if she hadn't realized just how _hard_ she was shaking.

"Oh, I see what you mean now," the queen said, the ground beneath her quaking. Bubblegum completely withdrew herself, and Marceline snarled, sitting up against her.

"OKAY, WHAT NOW? HM? HMM?!" the queen snapped, hair bristling.

"Don't challenge the kingdom! Gob _knows_ what it's doing now!" Bonnibel hissed, smacking the vampire's shoulder. A look of panic seized her, and she practically tumbled off of the older girl's hips. "Oh geez, we better get redressed—!"

"NO! I DON'T EVEN CARE ANYMORE!" Marceline roared, standing up. She staggered, begrudgingly fixed her pants, then hunched, eyes seething and fangs bared.

"I'M THE VAMPIRE QUEEN, YOU SPRINKLED WHALE FARTS! And _I WILL ACCEPT ANY CHALLENGE TO PROVE—FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL—THAT BONNIBEL ABADEER HAS GOT A RING TO IT._" She paused, nodding her head. "AND _BUNK YEAH, THAT PUN WAS INTENTIONAL."_

"Miss Abadeer, NO!" screamed Peppermint from the window, his face smacking against the sugar glass hard enough to crack it.

"WHICH ONE!?" Marceline demanded.

The earth, obviously not amused, split beneath them, grass blades parting like hundreds of razor teeth, and she scooped Bonnibel up into her arms and into the air.

"Unhand her and we will _see_!" a voice cried valiantly over the rumbling.

And with a burst of light that blinded both the girls, Candy Kingdom presented its answer.


End file.
